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West Point Military Academy Has First Same Sex Marriage Ceremony

Looks like there’s yet another institution making history. West Point Military Academy followed in suit by hosting its very own first same-sex marriage ceremony. The academy, which is said to be 210 years old as an institution, hosted the marriage between Brenda “Sue” Fulton, who’s a West Point graduate at 53 years old, and Penelope Gnesin, an Academy Cadet.

The ceremony between the two graduates of West Point Military Academy took place on December 1. Fulton revealed to CNN about her joy over the ceremony, saying, “It was such a sacred, joyous day.” Perhaps one of the most important moments shared in the military was an excerpt from the Cadet Prayer, which Fulton heard for the first time at the chapel in her youth. A line from the prayer reads, “make us to choose the harder right instead of the easier wrong.”

The prayer was important to both women. Fulton explained, “As both Penny and I worked to support LGBT military people, those principles were always in front of us.” She continued, saying, “To be able to celebrate this with so many of our straight and gay military folks, bi and trans, was really overwhelming.”

Prior to Brenda and Penelope’s union, Army 1st Lt. Ellen Schick and Shannon Simpson had their own ceremony in West Point’s original Old Cadet Chapel on November 24. Speaking with OutServe magazine, Simpson said about her wife, “Ellen is very proud to serve her country and wanted a military wedding. We felt that we should be allowed the same opportunity to marry on a military post as any heterosexual military couple.”

The two unions prove that the military’s views on homosexuality has come a long way, certainly since 2011’s repeal of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, which was signed in 1993 by then president Bill Clinton to protect gay rights in the military by shrouding the community in secrecy.